


As Usual, Business Is

by Lady_Felucia



Category: Kylo Ren - Fandom, Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), kylux - Fandom
Genre: Boys Kissing, Comedy, Cute Ending, Cutesy, Eventual Fluff, Eventual Happy Ending, Eventual Romance, Eventual kylux, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Funny Kylux, Gay, General Hux - Freeform, Hidden Feelings, Humor, Kissing, Kylo Ren - Freeform, Kylo Ren Has Issues, Kylux - Freeform, Love, M/M, Romance, Short Story, Soft Kylux, Star Wars - Freeform, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015) - Freeform, The First Order, space boyfriends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-20
Updated: 2017-08-20
Packaged: 2018-12-17 19:19:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11858004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Felucia/pseuds/Lady_Felucia
Summary: General Hux is always yelling at Kylo Ren, it seems, for something or other.Ren has more or less gotten used to the yelling and the nagging as being a part of his routine.But what happens when that 'routine' changes?





	As Usual, Business Is

"You're the one who pulled me from my meditation to come in here, Hux. Now get _on_ with it, already; what do you want?"

Hux glared at him from across the desk. 

It seemed as though every week, sometimes several times a week, General Hux had to call Kylo Ren into his office to 'discuss' things.

In specific, all the bad things, the damaging things, the sometimes _murderous_ things that the tall, brooding man constantly committed.

It seemed as though the high stack of papers on Hux's desk never truly went down, because he was always adding to it. Damage reports, requisition forms, replacement sheets--and at least 75% of all the things Hux had to fix revolved around some careless action by the man sitting in front of him.

"Well, lets see. I actually have a list, here. You violated Ordinance A48a9-237, Code F9-2227846-Tn, Ordinance . . ."

"In a language I understand, please," Ren mumbled, rubbing his eyes.

"Very well: You murdered two troopers without consulting your fellow commander, aka ME, you purposefully caused irreparable damage to a navigational computer, you physically assaulted an officer resulting in a Medical Bay stay and corrective surgery that cost the Order upwards of . . ."

"Okay, okay, I get it," Ren interrupted him with a loud yawn. He glanced at his watch. 

"I have to interrogate a prisoner in about ten minutes. So, yell at me or fine me, or whatever it is you called me in here to do. But make it fast, please; I don't like to keep my prisoners waiting. It's rude."

Hux sighed and passed his hand over his eyes wearily.

"Oh, what's the point? No matter what I say or do, you'll just go out the next day and do the same things again."

"Congratulations, Hux; you've finally seen the light. Does this mean you're going to lay off on the nagging from now on?"

Hux gave Ren an odd, strained smile.

"You know what? If I wasn't here to 'nag' you, Kylo Ren, you'd be bored out of your mind. You wouldn't know what to do with yourself."

Ren started to laugh, so hard that he had to lean against the wall for support.

"Maker, Hux. I've always known you to be arrogant, but I never suspected that you were a delusional narcissist as well. 'Wouldn't know what to do with myself'? Really? Your high opinion of yourself is impressive."

Hux sat calmly at his desk, still giving Ren that odd smile.

"Okay, Ren. Laugh if you must. Go on, then. Run along to your prisoner. Enjoy yourself."

"Okay," Ren said, feeling just a tad bit uneasy at Hux's strange, lackadaisical attitude. He found himself backing away from the General's painted on, unnerving gaze, and he forced himself to straighten up and act normally. "I'll bring you my report on the encounter tomorrow. Maybe."

Hux had looked away from him and turned to the indomitable stack of paperwork.

"Whenever you get around to it. No hurry," he said in a casual tone.

Ren walked out without another word. He was halfway down the hall before he realized he had left his helmet on Hux's desk. He turned back around, marched in and grabbed it quickly without saying anything. Hux didn't even react to his presence in the room, just went on filling out paperwork.

\---

"Construction has begun on new Wing S-53, please be aware that that hallway and both entryways leading to it will be routed a detour through Wing T-51. We've received a shipment of redesigned Phase 3 blasters for Squad Leaders 1-15 in accordance with training guide . . ."

Ren drummed his fingers over his helmet and sighed to himself. Instead of being over his face his piece of menacing-looking steel sat in front of him on the table. It was rare for him to wear it during meetings with the Top Officers anyway, but today would have proven to be quite uncomfortable.

The heat was astronomical today, but Hux, being oblivious (and budget-obsessed) as always, affected not to notice, and kept the cooling system turned down so low that what air did make its way to them didn't create much difference.

As Hux droned on and on over tedious tidbits of news and information, Ren entertained himself by counting the beads of sweat standing out on the faces of those around him. He couldn't see his own face, of course, but he felt sure he had everyone beat.

The only person who had no moisture on his face whatsoever; who, in fact, looked infuriatingly cool, was Hux.

Ren tuned back in to Hux's monologue as Hux began to go over the part of the meeting he referred to as "ways to improve the budget." 

Which really weren't ways at all.

It was a carefully crafted way for Hux to verbally attack and denounce Ren's actions of the week in front of everyone assembled. To point out how much damage he had caused from his weekly tirades of anger and destruction. To attempt to insult his character and his mental state of being; in other words, to try and embarrass him in front of all assembled.

And Ren looked forward to this more than any other part of his week.

He liked having an excuse to yell back at Hux in front of other people, to lob his best insults at the angry redhead.

Ren had an almost imperceptible smile on his face, as Hux began to go over the damage report for the week. More than half of the infractions Hux was listing had been caused by Ren himself, and he waited with his usual smirk for Hux to start berating him in front of everybody.

So he was, understandably, a bit confused when, instead of calling him out on his transgressions, Hux simply stated "We all must learn to be more careful with the equipment and personnel that we work with every day,"; and swiftly moved on to the next item of business.

Ren sat through the next half hour staring blankly down at his DataPad. Towards the end of the hour, bored, he used his mind to make Lieutenant Carothers start to sneeze.

Ren had discovered that some time ago, once Carothers started to sneeze, he couldn't stop for quite a while. And the man wasn't exactly germ-conscious; he lobbed out great gobbets of snot and spit all over the room, much to the disgust of all assembled.

Once Ren realized this, he would focus his mind to influence Carothers mind into thinking his nose had a tickle, and from there all bets were off.

Hux had realized it was Ren making the Lieutenant do this two weeks ago, after Ren had laughed himself sick during a particularly powerful episode. Realized it, and screamed at him for a solid hour after everyone had left about the importance of professionalism during these meetings.

The sneezing went into full affect now, and the formerly expressionless Ren now had a large, undeniable smile on his face.

"Lieutenant Carothers; are you quite alright?"

Hux asked this, and as he did so, he glanced in Ren's direction. Ren answered Hux's gaze with a defiant look that clearly said 'Yes, I'm the one causing this. So what?'

"Yes, General. Sorry, Sir, I must be coming down with something."

"Perfectly fine, Lieutenant. Be sure to stop at Med Bay and get checked out, your health is of the utmost importance to me."

Now Ren was _really_ at a loss. There was no way that Hux didn't know he had caused Carothers to start sneezing. Yet Hux hadn't called him out on it at all.

The time came when the meeting ended, and everybody left the room. Ren waited until the last person was out the door, and turned towards Hux, who was gathering up his charts.

"Hux?"

"Hmm?"

"Are you, uh, feeling okay?"

Hux looked up at him and favored him with a brilliant smile. It lit up his entire face, making him temporarily seem as young as a teenager.

That smile scared Ren to death.

"I'm feeling _wonderful_ , Ren! Nice of you to ask. How are **you** feeling, on this most beautiful of days?"

"I-I-I'm fine," Ren stuttered out. 

"Are you sure? You look a little peaked."

Hux got up from his seat and came up to Ren, still wearing that smile. He reached out and placed a hand on the startled Ren's cheek.

"You're a bit warm; you might be getting sick, like Lieutenant Carothers," he said as he took his hand away. "If you're not feeling well, I can find someone to handle your bridge shift tomorrow."

Ren jerked away. "I'm FINE," he said nervously. 

"Oh, well, I'm probably mistaken then. I trust your judgement, after all."

He turned back to his papers, gathering them neatly up. He had started whistling.

Ren stared at him for a few minutes, trying to decipher what in the kriff was going on. An idea came to him, and he cleared his throat and said,

"Oh, before I forget; I need you to requisition me a new pedestal for my Vader-shrine. The one I have now is getting rusty."

He said this on purpose, to get a reaction out of Hux. If it was one thing Hux loathed, it was being forced to procure the items that Ren insisted he needed for his shrine dedicated to his grandfather's helmet. He had had several screaming matches with Ren on the subject over the years, calling it 'sentimental nonsense' and a waste of the Order's precarious budget. Unfortunately for Hux, Supreme Leader Snoke ALWAYS backed up his apprentice on any subject concerning the latter's grandfather, and Hux would be ordered to comply with Ren's demands, no matter how unnecessary or ludicrous. It was one of the main points of contention between the two of them.

Ren waited for the yelling that he was sure would follow this request . . . and was met with a cheerful nod instead.

"That sounds fine, Ren. Put an order form on my desk tomorrow in regards to the specifics, and I'll get it for you as soon as possible. Is there anything else you need for it? A new cushion? Incense? Candles? Flowers, maybe?"

Ren just shook his head, unable to speak.

"Alright. Well, if you think of anything else, let me know. It's important we pay the utmost respect to Lord Vader, after all."

He turned to leave, giving Ren a friendly pat on the shoulder before exiting the room. "I'll see you in the morning, Ren. Sleep well."

And with that, he strode down the hall and back towards his office.

And he was whistling.  
Again.

\---

He waited for Hux to come around the corner. When he was in sight, Ren used the force to lift the nearest stormtrooper into the air, dangling him. The man screamed and clutched at his throat imperiously. Right before Ren would have killed him, he released his hold on the poor man and dropped him to the floor, unconscious.

By this time, Hux had made his way to him, and Ren waited. He expected to hear the usual "Stop tormenting my men!" or "There is no place in The First Order for your childish temper tantrums!"

What actually happened was that Hux looked down at the trooper, at Ren, and back to the trooper again.

"Daniels," he said calmly to the man who was next to him, his assistant. "Do me a favor and call for the Med Bay aides to come and retrieve this trooper here. It appears he's had a bit of an accident."

The man typed the order into his Comm, and Hux turned towards the waiting knight.

"Good morning, Ren," he said cheerfully. "I'm on my way to the mess hall; would you care to join me for breakfast?"

Ren couldn't keep his disappointment from spreading all over his face, at Hux's lack of a reaction. It was all he could do to mutter "No, thanks," to Hux's meal invitation.

"Very well; but if you change your mind, you know I'm always appreciative of your company."

He stepped carefully around the unconscious trooper and went on his way, leaving Ren staring in utter confusion after him.

The rest of the week went much the same way. Ren would purposefully do something awful to spark Hux's attention, and Hux would either outright ignore it, or worse, give him that smile and have his dalliances 'cleaned up' without so much as a word of reproach.

It got to a point where it took all the fun out of doing things, at all.

Sitting alone at a corner table in the Officer's mess hall, Ren was eating a piece of pie and going through files on his DataPad when the voluminous Admiral Klipper, who was as clumsy as he was fat, tripped over an undone lace in his boot and fell to his face on the ground. 

That was bad enough, but what made it worse was that the drink that had been on his tray went flying across the room, making a beeline straight for Ren's DataPad. The liquid covered the screen in seconds, causing it to buzz loudly and then short out completely.

Nobody in the room moved, nobody so much as breathed, in fear of Ren's retaliation. Even Klipper remained quietly on the floor, seeming to think that playing dead was his only option for survival.

Aware that all eyes in the room were on him, Ren stood up and pulled his helmet over his face. Klipper began to tremble as Ren started to walk towards him --

\-- and almost fainted with relief as Ren merely stepped over him and walked out of the room and down the hall, without so much as a look at Klipper or anyone else in the room.

After all, what would have been the point in choking that man out, like Ren had wanted to do?

Hux would have come in, seen what was happening, and calmly advised the air-deprived man to be more cautious in the future.

Thinking of Hux's probable response (or lack of it) made Ren switch directions and head for Hux's office. At the very least, Ren should procure a new DataPad.

He walked with heavy footsteps down the hall, puling his helmet back off as he approached the door, but he paused before knocking, realizing that Hux was currently with someone else.

Someone that Hux was -- wait, could it be? Someone that he was being quite loud with.

Ren stood still outside his office and listened as Hux yelled, yes, **yelled** at Captain Ernst. He was ticking off a list of codes that the man had apparently broken while guiding his men through a training course.

As Ren stood there and listened, a feeling so foreign flooded his chest that he didn't immediately have the word to identify it. After awhile, it came to him: jealousy. He was jealous of the Captain in there getting balled out by Hux. Jealous of the way Hux's voice was rising in anger as he pointed out all the things the man had done incorrectly. Just plain jealous.

Jealous, and confused.

He realized, with a kind of awe, that he had come to consider the yelling and the fighting as being "their" thing. His and Hux's. 

_Together._

And . . . and Kylo liked that.  
And he **missed** it.

 _My God, Kylo; what does this say about you?_ , he asked himself worriedly. _You just _admitted_ to yourself that you like it when Hux yells at you. When he's mad._

What are you talking about?, he answered himself in his head. That doesn't mean anything at all! It's not like I'm saying that -- that --

_When he's angry, his eyes spark, and all the color comes into his face. His voice gets deeper, too. He transforms into someone very forceful, someone in control. Someone . . . someone . . ._

" . . . handsome--?", he half-answered his own thoughts aloud, and right away felt a strong wave of shock ebb through his body.

What in the --?

But it was more than the physical transformation that the anger brought out in Hux. It was the caring aspect as well. The fact that Hux cared enough about the things Ren said or did to expound his energy to yell at him.

If he had given it a bit more thought, he would have realized that he equated anger and yelling with affection almost solely because of his parents. They had screamed at and criticized each other practically every day--but Ren had yet to witness a relationship in this galaxy that he thought was stronger or more filled with love than theirs had been.

As it was, at this particular moment, he was horrified.

He had always suspected that something was a little funny about the constant way he thought about Hux, but he had never admitted to himself just how deeply those thoughts ran. Acknowledging it to himself was a confusing combination of denial, fear---and relief.

And -- wait a second?

Did Hux already _know_ all this?

Had he figured out for himself that Ren derived the most pleasure from the day by getting angry reactions out of Hux?

Was he punishing Ren?

Suddenly, a snippet of the conversation the two of them had had last week came back to Ren, and it put the first (and only) real smile of the week on Ren's face.

_If I wasn't here to 'nag' you, Kylo Ren, you'd be bored out of your mind. You wouldn't know what to do with yourself._

How right he had been.

But you know, he said to himself, maybe it doesn't have to be all loud and angry all the time. Maybe these--these feelings, if that's what you want to call them, can be expressed in ways other than yelling.

_What if Hux doesn't feel the same way?_

Ren made a decision in his mind. It was a risky one, and dangerous, and he wasn't sure how Hux would react to it. He wasn't sure how HE would react to it. But he had to test out this new theory to himself, to see if it was true.

Ren waited impatiently for Captain Ernst to leave; then he marched himself determinedly into Hux's office.

"Ren! What a pleasant surprise, what can I do for--"

Ren walked right up to him, put his hands on Hux's face, and planted a hard, aggressive kiss on Hux's lips.

The look on Hux's face would have been hilarious at any other time. His cheeks had turned beet-red, and he was looking at Ren as though he had snakes crawling from his ears.

And then, miraculously, the yelling started.

"What in the hells? Ren, what do you think you're DOING?! That was totally wreckless and an entirely inappropriate display of--"

Ren shut him up by kissing him again, longer this time, and softer than before.

When he pulled away, he waited to see if he would be met with more yelling.

Instead, he was met with a smile.

They both looked at each other for a few moments, and then Hux started to laugh.

"So. I suspected that my passive attitude might be bothering you, Ren, but I didn't know it had driven you _this_ crazy."

Ren laughed, too, and he lightly punched the redhead's shoulder.

"So I was right. You WERE doing that on purpose. You son of a Gungan."

"In all honesty, Ren, I had no idea that what I said or did meant _that_ much to you. Quite flattering."

Ren rolled his eyes, and could feel a blush coming over his own face.

He also found that he really, **really** wanted to kiss Hux again.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Yes?"

Ren gulped, and had to clear his throat several times before he could get out, "You like tea, right? There's a new tea house that just opened up off base, about 15 minutes away. Do you want to go, and get a cup? With--with me?"

Hux looked at him, and a small dawned very slowly over his face.

"With -- you?"

"With me."

"I'd like that very much, actually," he said, grabbing his coat from the back of his chair and pulling it on. Then he turned to Ren with a stern look on his face.

"You're going to behave appropriately, right? No destroying things, no hurting people, no burning down the place if you don't like the food?"

Ren gave Hux his best smirk. "I'll try. No promises, though."

Hux reached over and lightly, timidly touched Ren's arm.

"I guess that's all I can ask for," he said, giving Ren a somewhat shy smile. 

Ren grinned as he opened Hux's door and held it for him.

"After you."


End file.
